


On the Edge of the Repentance

by EmbryonicHarmonic



Series: Raidou Vs Project Zero [2]
Category: Shin Megami Tensei: Devil Summoner, Zero: Akai Chou | Fatal Frame II: Crimson Butterfly
Genre: Gen, Horror, In Over His Head, no happy endings here
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-06-05
Updated: 2018-06-23
Packaged: 2019-05-18 16:48:21
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 4
Words: 3,613
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14856506
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/EmbryonicHarmonic/pseuds/EmbryonicHarmonic
Summary: Following the case of Himuro Manor, the Yatagarasu sends Raidou to investigate the strange happenings at All God's Village.





	1. All God's Village

Ch 1 - All Gods Village

From the hill he was standing on, Raidou couldn’t actually see what was so wrong about the village in the valley below.

It looked, for all intents and purposes, normal.

He could see the people as they wandered through the streets, going in and out of the houses he could see. Some were unusually elaborate, larger than he would have thought for something so small. There was plenty that he needed to actually check out, but standing on the hilltop made him briefly think that maybe he was a normal person, just moving to a new town. But there was nothing normal in his line of work. 

“Are you gonna actually head in or are we gonna stand there all day?” 

The cat, of course, all about business. 

Raidou tipped his hat, something that had become both a sign that he was ready to go and also a vaguely awkward and nervous habit. He was going to be ok. The idea of being stuck in an unusual town overnight was not exactly what he thought was safe or fine, but he had done significantly dumber things in the past. Besides, there was always something worse lurking. 

Though… 

He couldn’t shake the feeling of there being something strange. There were hardly any demons moving around. Actually, Raidou hadn’t seen any. That was incredibly unusual. Normally there were spirits and creatures everywhere, but this seemed to be a dead zone. Which really did not fill him with any sort of confidence. But he was not here to be confident, he was here to do a job. 

With Gouto on his shoulder, Raidou turned, moving up the path that overlooked the village. There was not a lot of foot traffic, but the path itself seemed to be worn and well-walked. Maybe the village had been much busier when it was still new. Why he was putting so much thought into this, Raidou wasn’t entirely sure. 

The more he thought, however, he wasn’t sure how he had even found this place.

It had no direct roads, there were only dirt paths and broken saplings where children had run through. How did they get supplies in? Surely the entire place was not completely self-sufficient. He had not seen any paths wide enough for a wagon, and surely not for a car. There had to be some sort of contact with the rest of the region, wasn’t there? Sticks crunched beneath his shoes as he made his way to the bottom of the hill, the forest path slowly fading away to pale dirt and a large, red Torii gate. 

“Well, let’s get this investigation started, yeah?”

Raidou nodded in agreement, stepping through the gate.


	2. [Not] Alone in the Town

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> As Raidou explores All God's Village, he find the villagers unnerving. So many seem to know who he is, and none are really interested in sharing their secrets.

“A summoner.”

“There’s a summoner here.”

The whispers were not lost on him as he seemed to wander aimlessly through the streets. Or, if they could be called streets. The village was much smaller than he had thought. A handful of houses, a bustling show of people, and he wasn’t entirely sure how there were so many villagers. And there was definitely a commotion caused by his presence. He would have been a fool to overlook it, not that he couldn’t hear the whispers as he passed. They knew he was a summoner. Not many people did at first glance. 

Actually almost no one thought he was a summoner the first time they saw him. Usually he was a busboy, a houseboy, a delivery boy, and a student. Pretty much everything except a summoner.

It was suspicious. 

After doing what was probably a short, and rather sparse look around the village, Raidou leaned against one of the houses - the Kiriyu House, from the crest - and took a moment to collect himself.

It all looked like a normal village, but he knew that he wasn’t sent here because of normalcy. But there were people, people very attuned to what he was, and he was sure he had seen at least one set of twins running around. Maybe he needed to look a little closer. There had to be something, a shrine somewhere. There were so many people, and he just felt like there was something missing. Actually, there were several things missing. Something was not really adding up but at the same time, he couldn’t quite put his finger on it. 

Two flickers of green, and Pyro Jack and Jack Frost were off to have a look around. Raidou could have gone with something else, but they were the two most unassuming demons he had. Simple, and generally liked by others. 

So if anyone had the ability to see them, hopefully they would not be alarmed.

“This is kind of weird, kid.” 

Raidou couldn’t agree more, moving back out onto the main stretch and taking a moment to just watch people move around. It looked so… normal. So simple. But if it was so normal, why did he feel a sense of anxiety and unease in the pit of his stomach? Nothing good came from this and nothing good would come from this. It was… poor at best. 

“Excuse me, young man.”

Raidou’s head snapped in the direction of the voice, seeing an older woman, with a young girl peeking out behind her. He turned fully, trying to be as polite as possible. 

“You’re a summoner, are you not?” 

He nodded. 

“Have you come to observe the ritual? Has the Yatagarasu decided to take care of matters once and for all?”

To his credit, Raidou’s expression did not reflect his confusion. Rituals were always a sign he needed to check and investigate much more. This was going to definitely be one of those cases, he was sure of it. And so soon on the heels of the Himuro case as well. He was already sure that there was something bigger than on the surface, but to be so open about it, to be asking him and knowing that he was serving the Yatagarasu… 

It was unnerving at best. 

But he did politely respond that he was simply here to observe, and would not intervene unless there was an actual issue. Though, he was not about to admit that he already thought there was an issue, he just didn’t know what it was. 

The old woman smiled and nodded at him, displaying a warmth that he definitely did not remember from his youth. “Then you should steer clear of the Remaining. A good summoner like you doesn’t need that sorrow in your heart.” 

What?

That was curious, though Raidou did not get a chance to respond before she and her granddaughter - Chitose, as he caught - were already moving off the street. Well, now he had a reason to poke around much more.

Mysterious rituals were never good. 

Raidou glanced around, looking at the buildings and not entirely sure where he should start. This was a bigger case than he anticipated, but then again, he wasn’t entirely sure what he was expecting. Whatever it was, it definitely wasn’t this. 

It didn’t help that he didn’t have a name for this, or that he had no idea where to start. 

Of course, his thoughts were stopped the moment Jack Frost slammed into his legs, and he nearly found himself kissing the dirt. Shaking, scared demons were never good. They tended to be… unpredictable. 

Once he had managed to free his leg, and find a quiet place, Raidou kneeled down and worked to soothe his frightened partner, though he was sure that Pyro Jack would not be far behind. Not that it was easy to actually get some sort of answer. All he was able to get was that there was something big and terrible under the town. Something called the Abyss. Before he was really able to ask for clarity, Pyro Jack nearly dove into him. Same story. A great evil in the Abyss.

Returning both demons to their tubes, Raidou rose and dusted himself off. 

He needed to search for this ritual, and find this Abyss. It was not the best thing, but he wanted to do this correctly. There had to be someone he could see, someone he could speak to. 

It wasn’t like people were going to just open their houses to--

“Summoner, would you like to come inside for some tea? You look so out of place.”

\--him.

Well, it would be rude to refuse.


	3. The Twin Shrine Maidens

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Raidou digs further and further into the mystery of the village, and people begin to turn on him.

Raidou found himself in what was either the fanciest manor he had ever been in, or in the most empty, he was not entirely sure. 

There was something about this that absolutely reminded him of home. The village, the powerful families that seemed to just be everywhere… well, there were several families he was learning. The Kiryu house, where he was seated politely sipping a cup of tea, was by far the most unnerving. He could sense something very powerful in the house, but he was not allowed to simply roam freely. 

Apparently his reputation preceded him. 

“We are aware of the Yatagarasu’s concerns, but this ritual is one that must be carried out for the good of the village, surely you, as a Kuzunoha can understand this.”

Unfortunately, he still did not really know what this ritual was. Every attempt to ask about it had been met with a wall or dodging the question. That, unfortunately, told him that he was on the right track and this was something that was not alright in the eyes of both the law and his work. But since he was here, the work came first. And unfortunately, he couldn’t shake the feeling of unease that was looming over him. He really wished they would just let him look around, and maybe take care of this terrible feeling. 

The fact that his kuda rattled now and then was only making it worse. Spirits rattled by other spirits and demons never made things good. 

“Hm? A presence? I don’t know about that, our home has been cleansed several times.” 

Raidou felt his lips twist to a slight frown. Surely they had not if he was still feeling this. He tried to press further, but was not getting anywhere. The Kiryu were just not playing well with others, were they? Wonderful. 

He definitely did not believe anything they said, aside from the ritual actually existing. 

Fortunately, or rather unfortunately, a scream in the hall gave him exactly the opportunity he needed, and before he could be stopped, Raidou was on his feet and through the door, ready to attack whatever vengeful sort of vile and twisted demon was--

\--That was not a demon.

Before him was just a girl in a purple kimono, with what looked to be a twin… no, a doll beside her. Raidou felt his stomach twist. He knew, it was plain as day now, there was something wrong here. The dark presence that emanated from the wood and cloth set his nerves on fire and the hairs on the back of his neck standing up. He was not going to be able to let this go, he couldn’t. There was something so vile and so horrific that he could not leave it. 

The blade was flickering with a green aura as he drew it, hearing the protests of those around him, but he was bound by duty, and he could not show weakness. 

“Don’t hurt my sister!”

The sudden yelling and body clinging to him was not what he had expected, nor was it something he could find it easy to recover from. He froze, looking down at the sobbing child clinging to his waist, begging and pleading with him to not harm the doll. He felt every single part of his good sense and his training screaming at him, ringing in his ears to go through with it. But there was something stopping him and he was not sure if he could truly move. 

Two people moved past him, starting to pull the young girl off of him and gather up the doll. Calling them by name, as if the doll was real, and living. Akane and Azami. There was something worse, he could see it.

The mark of a red butterfly on Akane’s throat. 

Raidou demanded answers. 

“Our Akane is a Remaining, the result of a successful ritual. The doll was made to combat her grief.” 

He pressed more, maybe a little more forcefully than his calm, quiet demeanor would have betrayed, but he needed answers. The family - no, the entire village - was being too vague about things, and he was starting to grow frustrated and angry. This wasn’t just dodging the questions, it was outright obstructing his investigation, and with how badly this was going, he had a sinking feeling that this would not get any better. Actually, Raidou had this terrible feeling that something bad was going to happen. 

“I think you need to leave.” 

Well, it wasn’t like he really had a choice. 

After being rather unceremonially shunted out of the house, Raidou resisted the urge to kick at the dust like a child. It was frustrating, and he had no real leads aside from wandering vaguely around the town. 

Which… he did. 

That, strangely, lead him to somewhere useful.

Raidou had found himself at a little waterway, looking out over the bridge at his own frustrated expression in the water, listening to Gouto telling him how they were definitely at a dead-end, and it only made him feel more and more stressed. They had to find SOMETHING and he felt like he had been run around into every dead-end wall. If he had been thrown any harder, he was sure he would have broken something. He removed his hat, slowly running his slender fingers through his hair and replaced it. 

“Hang on, Raidou. I hear something.”

That caught his attention, and Raidou looked around.

“Over here! Hey!”

That was a new voice. 

Raidou turned, finding the source coming from what looked like a shed. And as he got closer, he realized there was someone inside. A young man not much younger than him, with unnatural white hair, reaching out through a barred window at them.

“You’re an outsider, aren’t you? Please, you have to help them.”

The young summoner blinked in confusion, asking further. 

“Sae and Yae, they’re supposed to be sacrificed, but they’re going to run. Please, you have to make sure they get out of here. We can’t continue the ritual!”

Finally, a chance to ask about it. And Raidou did, one hand reaching out to see if he could pull at the bars. The young man grasped his hand, and his eyes flooded with visions, images he could not remember but that he also was sure were not his own. What played before his eyes was something terrible.

_He saw masked priests, and he saw two young men._

_He saw stone stairs leading into the nothingness, and he saw the glaring red of the Torii gate._

_He saw a stone altar, and a great abyss._

_He saw it. The strangling ritual. One twin strangling the other, for the good of the village._

_The body was thrown into the abyss, and Raidou felt his entire body grow cold._

He recoiled, sucking in a sharp breath that seemed to shudder through his entire body. What sort of madness was in this town? And what was worse, he could feel a chill in the air, as though a veil had been pulled back and a coldness had settled on his skin. Raidou took a stiff step backwards, the understanding dawning in his eyes and he was not sure when his heart had started to race but he could not bring himself to stop it. He understood now, and he had to stop this. He had to stop this village, and everyone in it. 

“Please, they took the exit through the old tree, you have to catch up to them!” 

The prisoner’s frantic words drew him back to reality, and Raidou’s eyes scanned the distant treeline until he saw a path he could take. He glanced down at Gouto with a nod, moving as fast as he could towards the path. 

Was he too late? He didn’t know, hearing the sounds of footsteps, of people moving around him. The way the trees twisted and tangled, the light seemed to grow darker and darker, and he wasn’t sure if he was actually moving into the Dark World or not. But the way his hands trembled and he felt the anxiety just filling his chest made him want to be gone from here. He wanted to run, as far and as fast as he could. 

Something - someone - struck him, out of nowhere, and the world just went dark.


	4. The Repentance

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Raidou can do many things, but he cannot stop the nightmare. Broken, shaken, and ruined, there is no way to end this on a high note.

By the time he opened his eyes, the sun had set, and the chill of night had set in.

Raidou bolted upright, his eyes frantically scanning around to take stock of where he was. A thousand thoughts rolled through his head. The ritual. He had to stop it. He could just purge the Abyss and this village would be saved. No one would need to be killed, no one would need to be harmed. He could do this. He could save them. He could complete his mission, fulfill his duty. 

He was in a shed, and after enough kicking at the door, he realized it was locked from the outside. His kuda bandoleer was gone, so was his katana and his revolver, and his stomach just turned. Focus. Focus. 

“Raidou!” 

Gouto. From outside the shed.

“Raidou, you have to bust out of there, there’s still time to stop this. The villagers just started this procession to the shrine, and something’s wrong. They only have one girl, and I know we were chasing twins.” 

His stomach rolled. 

Raidou pulled back his pant leg, revealing the tube stuck in his sock, fastened by a garter. Fortunately the villagers had not searched him too thoroughly it seemed, and the shed was soon blown to absolute splinters by the loud roar and bitter cold of Cerberus. He reached out, Gouto hopping up his arm and onto his shoulders, and he swung himself onto the back of the white, maned beast. They had to find and stop this. 

They charged over the rooftops, following the fading glow of lanterns. The summoner felt dread crawl over him, and he did not like any of it. His body just shivered, shuddering as the weakness just crawled into him. He was unfocused. His demons were missing. His weapons were gone. And he had no idea how he was going to stop this. 

But he would. Somehow. 

He all-but bounded off of the beast when he found the entrance he was looking for, and he stared down a long path into the dark. Cerberus returned to the tube, Raidou had this terrible feeling that he did not have time to search for a weapon.

He sprinted down the stairs, reaching a red Torii gate when the world under his feet shook, and something in him told him to run. Some instinct yelled at him to flee. 

And he saw it, a sheer blackness crawling up the stairs, consuming everything in its path. 

Raidou had never moved so fast. He scooped up Gouto and ran. His feet hardly touched the ground, dashing over stone and around narrow corners as the darkness was on his heels. He could hear it, a cold, horrific laughter in his ears as the shadows seemed to try to draw him in. His training was gone from his mind. Any sense of retrieving his items seemed to have vanished, everything was focused on running. On surviving. It was a frantic, terrifying feeling. Something he had not actually felt for years, not since he was a child.

He could hear a laughter in his ears, a young girl laughing so cruelly that he almost looked back. He almost turned his head to see if she was right behind him, but with the cat cradled in his arms he dare not risk it. 

There was nothing to do but flee. 

His legs carried him up the dirt road out of the village, tearing over loose stones until he saw the bright red Torii gate atop the hill, and as the darkness bit at his heels, he sprinted. Whatever ounce of energy he had left carried him through the gate, and he lost his footing. Gouto flew from his hold and Raidou went sprawling to the ground, rolling several times before he came to a stop. 

The darkness did not pass the gate. 

Raidou jumped to his feet, still overwhelmed with adrenaline as he stared at the wall of blackness that filled the gate. Only then did everything actually dawn on him. What had happened. 

The entire village was gone. 

His weaponry was lost.

His demons… his demons were going to be locked in their tubes forever. He had abandoned them. He had not even tried to brave the inky darkness and the laughing frenzy to look for them. He had promised so many of them that he was better than that. He was not supposed to be like other Summoners, and yet he had destroyed them to save his own hide. 

Raidou’s body shook, and he sank to his knees, bracing his hands against the dirt as his stomach heaved. Bile splashed against the ground and he could not stop shaking. 

“Raidou...” 

Gouto pawed at his arm, and he glanced over, his skin white as the moon and his eyes shining with the most guilt-ridden tears to ever grace a human’s face. There was nothing that could be said now. 

“...Let’s go home.”


End file.
